Autobiography of an Author (Me)
Copyright© 2014 by Stepdad
Chapter 1: That's me in the box
Well, not quite yet but some day it will be me in the box in the ground. It's kind of a fatalistic attitude but let's face it; none of us will get out of this life alive so we had better make the most of the precious time we are given here on earth. I don't intend to get into the subject of the hereafter since it is a very controversial subject amongst most peoples and stirs up some hard feelings. I am going to deal with the here and now and how it affects my brief existence on this world. As I write this I am 73 years old and retired on a riverfront piece of property.
I have been fortunate to lead a very satisfying life. I was born in 1940 to a family of moderate income which lived in a somewhat average home in the Northeastern part of the United States. I was the only boy with three sisters to keep me on my toes. I struggled through grade school just barely squeaking by. If the truth be told, I suspect the teachers passed me on just so they would not have to put up with me for another year. I was about as far from the model student as one can get without being expelled. Once I made it into high school I developed an interest in technical subjects because they aligned well with my fascination with electronics.
My father went to work for one of the field tech-rep companies shortly after I was born at the beginning of world war two. He came home at the end of the war in 1945 when I was five years old. A little young to get into technical things but fascinated by what some things could do. Dad set up a radio repair shop in our basement and brought in enough money to keep food on the table and clothes on our backs. He also operated the projectors at a local movie theater where I spent my Saturday afternoons. Since he was home virtually every day, he and I grew quite close. His knowledge of electronics started to rub off on me and I guess you could say I had been bitten by the electronics bug. I dove into experimenting with some pretty intense subjects and managed to win first place in several science fairs.
Once I finally managed to graduate from high school I was hired by a local defense contractor working in their microwave development lab. I worked on radar systems and countermeasure systems. I thought it ironic that the same company which made the radar systems also made the jammers to defeat them. Most of the work I did was on the cutting edge of technology at the time and as such was totally fascinating.
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